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AudioBoo the Dunwich Dynamo

Update (6 July): Thanks to all those who took part. Interesting to hear the powers of reasoned speech decline as the night wore on. And there appeared to be problems uploading out of 3G range – something that AudioBoo.fm should look into if this is really going to become a platform for mobile audioblogging. You can listen to all the audioBoos from the Dunwich Dynamo 2009 here. Some lovely photos here.

The Dunwich Dynamo is the greatest London cycle event, bar none. A free, turn-up-and-go night right to the Suffolk Coast. Just long enough to feel like a real achievement, but well within the reach of an averagely fit day-to-day cyclist. The Bike Show has featured DD16 and DD12 but this year, coverage is going to be a novel experiment in what Nathan Barley would probably refer to as “self-facilitating, crowd-sourced audio mashup”. But don’t let that put you off.

If you’re riding this year’s Dunwich Dynamo and you have an iPhone, then I hope you’ll take part in the experiment. Here’s how it works. audioBoo is a really nice free application (made by a London-based company) that allows you to record snippets of audio, up to three minutes in duration, and post them to the web. Audio blogging if you like. It’s incredibly easy to use and the sound quality from the iPhone’s internal microphone isn’t bad at all. You just need to sign up for a free audioBoo account and download the free app from the iPhone app store. Then you’re ready to go.

What I want you to do is to record moments from the night – before the start, during the ride, at the half-way stop, at the end, on the beach, in the cafe having breakfast… on the coach (or ride!) back, in the bath at home… wherever. Record anything you like. The ambiance, your own reflections, a short interview with a friend or stranger. Add the tag DD17 and all the snippets will be aggregated into a big pool of sound, a unique record of a unique night. If enough people do it, it should be possible to produce a feature on the radio show made up of everyone’s recordings. Simple as that. Any questions, hit the comments below…